At Huis Ten Bosch Palace, Dick Schoof, the former chief of the Dutch intelligence agency and counterterrorism office, officially signed the royal order, stating that he “declared and promised” to fulfill his obligations as prime minister of the nation. Along with fifteen other ministers, the 67-year-old was formally installed as part of the right-leaning government in the nation.
The incoming government of the Netherlands has nominated the former intelligence chief as the country’s prime minister.
Although fiery Geert Wilders’ anti-immigration party garnered the most seats in the previous election, it took 223 days to form a government.
The opposition and even some members of the coalition’s own party swiftly criticized the new government for its infamous anti-immigration policies. Tuesday, demonstrators flocked in front of the palace where the event was held. One woman had a banner that read, “Are we democratically getting rid of our democracy?”
The four parties that form the coalition are the center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, headed by the departing prime minister Mark Rutte, the populist Wilders’ Party for Freedom, the populist Farmer Citizen Movement, and the centrist New Social Contract party.
